TFC latest program to bear Leiweke’s distinct imprint
In l ate April, 2013, a gust of wind named Tim Leiweke blew into Toronto and changed our sporting city forever.
It didn’t seem so apparent at the time: This bull in a china shop — knocking things down, tripping all over his words, battling with his bosses, making wild and entertaining proclamations, and letting anyone who would listen know that the culture of losing within Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment was about to end.
Leiweke played the part of runaway train, bowling over those in his way, not caring much for whatever residual damage was left at the side of the road.
He was just 18 days on the job when he hired Masai Ujiri away from the Denver Nuggets to run the Toronto Raptors. He was in his fifth month as CEO of MLSE when he brought in Tim Bezbatchenko to run the soccer operations of the rather dismal Toronto FC franchise. Some seven months later, with assistance from Gary Bettman, Leiweke gave the keys to the Toronto Maple Leafs car to a management neophyte named Brendan Shanahan.
All that done in less than one full year on the job. Some 18 months later, because of corporate illness — he was sick of them, they were sick of him — Leiweke was gone. Out as CEO of Canada’s largest sporting company. Gone but with a growing legacy that impacts this market almost daily from a sporting sense.
On Monday, there was a remarkable championship parade for the MLS champion Reds, and I couldn’t help but think back to the first time I had lunch with Leiweke. He was late. He was on his phone as much as he talked to me. His mind raced. He talked. I listened. He wasn’t sure how to fix the rancid basketball or hockey teams. He was sure how to fix the soccer team.
“That’ll be easy,” he told me, showing me he was negotiating f or a player t hrough our l unch. He wouldn’t tell me the name but it was clear he was going after Jermain Defoe.
You couldn’t buy your way out of the basement in the NHL or NBA, necessarily, but Leiweke believed you could do it in soccer.
He went out and bought Michael Bradley and Defoe. One of those purchases worked out wonderfully. When Defoe took the money and didn’t care, Leiweke did two things. He wound up ex- changing Defoe for Jozy Altidore and brought in Sebastian Giovinco similarly.
What happened Saturday night at BMO Field? Giovinco slid a skilful opening pass to Altidore, who broke in a alone and scored the championship winning goal. The two purchases from the original buy of Defoe securing the first MLSE championship for the company Leiweke left just before Halloween in 2015.
The soccer part, as Leiweke would say, that was the easy part.
The basketball and hockey challenges were far more extensive.
Ujiri and Leiweke talked about tanking in Year 1 with the Raptors, but that never happened in 2014. In five seasons now, with Ujiri in charge, the Raptors have won 90 more games than they have lost. In the five seasons prior to his arrival, they lost more games than they had won.
At the same time, one season earlier than anticipated, Leiweke launched the We The North campaign, and all you have to do is walk around this city and see the T-shirts, the sweatshirts, the hats, to understand the suc- cess of that piece of marketing.
What is clear as the Raptors are 17-7 in the early season heading into Monday’s game against the Clippers, is that Ujiri has a managerial vision that is superb. He would have not brought his grace to Toronto had it not been for Leiweke.
The s a me is t r ue of Shanahan, who chose to build the forever treading Leafs from the foundation on up. He wanted to find the best scout in hockey. He hired Mark Hunter. He wanted to locate the freshest young mind in hockey. He hired Kyle Dubas. He wanted the best coach in the game. He overspent for Mike Babcock. And when he needed a general manager, a voice, a program builder, a franchise conscience, a mentor to him, so he shocked the hockey world and pried Lou Lamoriello out of New Jersey.
And he got fortunate also. This tank job worked. The Maple Leafs finished last, won the lottery, got Auston Matthews. And look to be a contender now for years to come.
Most of that was done after Leiweke had gone, but all of it has been managed by Shanahan, whom he believed in, whom he elevated to a position many in the hockey world thought was too much, too soon.
It was the same belief with Bezbatchenko, a former soccer player turned lawyer, who worked in the MLS head office. Leiweke needed someone who knew the game, knew the contract rules, knew the CBA, and would grow into the job. They worked closely together at first and after Leiweke left, Bezbatchenko went out and acquired Victor Vazquez, drafted the goalkeeper, Alex Bono, the kind of moves t hat maybe pushed TFC from good to great.
In the last two seasons, TFC has scored 49 goals more than their opponents. The two years before Bezbatchenko took over, they were minus-46 in scoring.
This parade Monday wasn’t a one-off. There will be other parades in the future.
Who knows when or if there will be parades for the Maple Leafs and the Raptors but both are upper echelon teams in the NHL and NBA. The opportunity for greatness came in the two years, seven months t hat Tim Leiweke ran MLSE and ran over anyone in his way.
THERE WILL BE OTHER PARADES IN THE FUTURE.